Gender differences in the recognition of laterally presented affective nouns

Abstract

Evidence suggests that the cerebral hemispheres are differentially specialised for the processing of positively and negatively valenced affective material. The present study examined the consequences of this for the availability in each hemisphere of lexical entries related to positive, neutral, and negative affect. A threshold recognition task was used to assess the identification of positive, neutral, and negative emotionally toned nouns projected to the right or left visual field. A strong lateral asymmetry in favour of right visual field recognition of nouns was observed. Whereas women showed no evidence of changes in lateral asymmetry as a function of affect, lateral asymmetry in men was significantly greater for positive nouns. This finding points to a difference in the representation of affective material in the left and right lexicons of the male brain, and provides support for the notion that gender may be one of the keys to reconciling some of the contradictory findings that characterise this area of research.